FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, October 2, 2025
Contacts: Emily Dong, 267-761-1502, emily.dong@seiuhcpa.org
Nursing Home Workers at Valley West Health Facilities Send Strike Notices for Unfair Labor Practices
After months of stalled negotiations and bad-faith bargaining, union workers at 10 Valley West nursing homes overwhelmingly voted to authorize a three-day strike beginning on October 14th
Western and Central PA – Yesterday, 750 essential workers at 10 Valley West Health-operated nursing homes in Western and Central Pennsylvania sent notices of Unfair Labor Practice strikes and information pickets. After months of stalled negotiations with the New Jersey-based company, the workers voted overwhelmingly by 97% to authorize a three-day Unfair Labor Practices (ULP) strike at 8 facilities, set to begin October 14th. The remaining 2 facilities will hold informational pickets on October 16th.
The caregivers, serving close to 1,000 seniors and residents, are calling on Valley West to begin bargaining in good faith and invest in safe staffing. They are also demanding transparency around how public funds are spent on care.
“No healthcare worker ever wants to have to strike, but Valley West is giving us no other option” said Tiffany Cothren, a certified nursing assistant for three years at Waynesburg Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center. “They are not bargaining in good faith, won’t provide basic information needed to negotiate, and are refusing to invest in care for residents. We are standing up for our residents, our communities, and the public dollars that should be going to care—not corporate profits.”
Workers, including nurses, nursing aides, housekeeping, dietary, laundry, and maintenance staff, have been trying to negotiate a wage reopener for over two months. While more than 60 other nursing homes have already raised wages this summer to combat unsafe staffing and improve resident care, Valley West has appeared at only one bargaining session with workers thus far and to date have yet to provide a proposal.
“Valley West’s behavior feels so disrespectful to the residents and to the workers who show up 24/7 for them,” said Tyreika Tate, a dietary cook for 40 years at Walnut Creek Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Erie. “We were looking forward to working closely to retain and recruit caregivers and improve care, but instead the company is not bargaining in good faith. We had to decide to do whatever it takes, including strike unfair labor practices if necessary, to demand this new operator do right by residents, workers, and taxpayers who they are accountable to.”
An out-of-state operator new to Pennsylvania, Valley West purchased the 10 union nursing homes in 2024 after former owner, Guardian Healthcare, filed for bankruptcy. Workers only reached their first agreement with Valley West last year to maintain existing contract standards and protect continuity of resident care.
With 1 in 3 Pennsylvanians estimated to be 65 years and older by 2030, new efforts including the industry-labor partnership between SEIU Healthcare PA, the Pennsylvania Health Care Association (PHCA), and operators such as Saber Healthcare are dedicated to stabilizing the workforce crisis, worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic, a rise in bankruptcies, and sales. Thirty-two percent of nursing homes in the Commonwealth have experienced sales in the last 7 years. Without competitive wages, adequate staffing, and access to affordable healthcare, worker turnover in nursing homes remains high and threatens the quality of care for residents. Workers are urging elected officials to hold operators, such as Valley West Health, accountable for how they use public funds.
By law, nursing home administrators must receive a 10-day notice before a strike at a healthcare facility takes place. Strikes are set to start October 14th at the following nursing homes:
- Clarion Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center (Clarion)
- Haida Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center (Hastings)
- Oil City Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center (Oil City)
- Richland Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center (Johnstown)
- Titusville Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center (Titusville)
- Uniontown Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center (Uniontown)
- Walnut Creek Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center (Erie)
- Waynesburg Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center (Waynesburg)
Informational pickets are set for October 16th at the following homes:
- Kinzua Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center (Warren)
- William Penn Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center (Lewistown)
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SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania is the state’s largest and fastest-growing union of nurses and healthcare workers, uniting tens of thousands of professional and technical employees, direct care workers, and service employees in hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, home- and community-based services, and state facilities across the Commonwealth. SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania members are committed to improving the lives of health care workers and ensuring quality care and healthy communities for all Pennsylvanians.
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